At 14, he made $1000 a week stealing cars, then Jesus stole his heart

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS - June 24, 2015)
-- By age 14, Rosario “Chayo” Perez was stealing pickup trucks from
Tucson and bringing them across the border, where mafiosos paid him
$1,000 each.

“When
you’re 14, and you’re making $1,000 a week, that’s good money,” he
says. He dropped out of school after finishing the 6th grade. “I
figured, ‘Why would I need school?’”

When
Chayo was 16, his best friend was murdered at his house on Christmas
day. The killer was looking for Chayo to avenge some wrong. “But my
friend took the hit and got killed,” he remarks grimly.

Once a group of fellow hoodlums, seeking revenge, left a man bloodied and nearly dead.“Life was such a haze,” he recalls. “You’re high so much, drunk so much, that the reality of death doesn’t hit you.”

“I
reached a point where I was sick and tired,” Chayo said. “I was living
like an animal – just partying, drinking, using drugs and fighting.”

Then his older brother, Alex, got saved at a church that street-preached and evangelized earnestly.

“He
would come witness to me while I was partying with my buddies,” Chayo
said. “I started to get sick of him. I kept telling him to leave me
alone.”

Photo caption: Pastor Rosario “Chayo” Perez with his wife and two of his four children at Bible conference in Tucson.

About the writer: Mark Ellis is a senior correspondent for the ASSIST News Service and also the founder of www.Godreports.com, a
website that shares stories, testimonies and videos from the church
around the world to build interest and involvement in world missions.

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